We are Filipe and Vera the hosts and designers of the FIVE Historic Photography Studio, a studio dedicated to the 19th century photographic techniques.

And why Five Studio you ask. Well before we came to Sintra we lived in Florence, Italy. And when we went on the trip to Florence, we were Five, (two dogs, a cat and us two). So on the trip we play about the fact that we were the five on an adventure like the five of the writer Enid Blyton who gave rise to a television series called The Famous Five. Also we noted that the first two letters of our first names, FI-lipe and VE-ra became Five. So from that moment on, all the projects we had together had the Five's stamp on them.

We met because of biology since we did a master course together, but later we found that besides biology we had several other passions in common, as antiques, and the analog photography.

When we came back to Portugal and Sintra in particular we gave up the academic career and we decide to joint efforts to put our common dreams into place.

Knowing that Sintra's golden age was at the end of the 19th century, when many of Sintra's attractions were built. Also was the victorian era, a period of revolutionary breakthroughs in the arts and sciences, and the beginning of photography coincided with that time. The fact that the royal family spent much of their time in Sintra and have also the same passion for photography, led us to the idea to create a link between these 19th century photography techniques and Sintra golden era.

So we got down to work and began to learn extensively about those ancient processes and techniques, eventually falling in love with wet plate collodion portraiture. With over 8 years of experience using these 19th century techniques, we have exhibited in a variety of places and in addition we developed a taste for teaching and passing on knowledge to anyone who wants to explore some of these wonderful techniques.

So embark and experience first-hand the magic of of the 19th century techniques with local experts Filipe and Vera.

Join them!